Ivan Jurić ( born 25 August 1975) is a Croatian professional former player and manager. Jurić spent most of his playing career as a midfielder and his entire managerial career in Italy.

Playing career

Club career

A versatile and technically skilled midfielder or winger, Jurić started his career with Hajduk Split, where he played from 1993 to 1997. He then moved to Spain to join Sevilla FC, where he played from 1997 to 2001, except for a short loan to Albacete in 2000. After a short time back in Croatia with Šibenik, he moved to Italy in 2001 to join Serie B team Crotone, and then moved to Genoa in 2006, following his mentor Gian Piero Gasperini, his former head coach at Crotone. Since then, he established himself as a fan favourite, being the protagonist of the rossoblu 's return to Serie A and then being appointed vice-captain for the team. He announced his retirement in June 2010, at the age of 34, contemporaneously confirming his interest in becoming a football coach.

International career

Jurić made his international debut for Croatia in a friendly match against Romania on 11 February 2009 and went on to play five times with his national team, though he did not score any goals. His final international was a September 2009 World Cup qualification match against Belarus.

Coaching career

After retiring as a footballer, Jurić stayed at Genoa as a youth team coach for the 2010–11 season. He passed the UEFA A coaching exam in June 2011. On 5 July 2011, new Inter manager Gian Piero Gasperini unveiled Jurić as one of his first team coaches in the new club, but was removed from his post the following September together with Gasperini and his entire staff. He reunited with Gasperini in September 2012, working alongside him at Palermo as assistant coach. His Crotone side won promotion in 2015–16 season to the top flight Serie A for the 2016–17 season for the first time in the club's history. After achieving promotion with Crotone, he was offered to replace his mentor Gasperini at his former club Genoa in June 2016, which he accepted, thus becoming the new head coach of the Grifone. He was sacked on 19 February 2017 after a 0–5 defeat against bottom-placed Pescara. He was reinstated as Genoa manager on 10 April 2017 after the sacking of Andrea Mandorlini. On 9 October 2018, he was appointed manager of Genoa for a third time. On 6 December 2018, he was sacked again after losing to third tier Virtus Entella on penalties in the Coppa Italia. In July 2019, he was appointed at the helm of the newly promoted Serie A club Hellas Verona. Under his tenure with the Gialloblu, he competed in two top-flight seasons with impressive results despite having one of the smallest budgets in the league. On 28 May 2021, Hellas Verona announced to have released him from his contract; on the same day, he was unveiled as the new head coach of Torino, effective 1 July 2021. After three mid-table seasons with Torino, Jurić amicably parted ways with the Granata at the end of the club's 2023–24 campaign. On 18 September 2024, Jurić became the new head coach of Roma, following the sacking of Daniele De Rossi after earning just three points in the first four games of the season. Jurić failed to turn the team's fortunes and was regularly criticized for his management style and poor results; he was eventually dismissed on 10 November 2024, after a 2–3 home loss to Bologna that left Roma 20th in the Europa League table and only four points ahead of the relegation zone in Serie A.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Coach

Individual

Personal life

Jurić is a self-described metalhead, with the passion for death metal music in particular. In the 2010 interview with the Italian edition of Rolling Stone, he cited Napalm Death, Obituary, Carcass, Death, Metallica, Megadeth, Ministry, Soundgarden, Soulfly as some of his favorite artists. He occasionally goes to rock and metal live shows.